Hero in Flames
by Nemarra
Summary: A routine fire rescue turns into a life or death struggle for two Titans. Slight BBRae and even slighter RobStar.


_This story goes out to Dude Your Awesome8 for being the third winner of my 'surprise prize's. They were the fifth to fav my story __It's A Mystery__._

_Disclaimer: No own, no sue. Roll it!_

**Hero in Flames**

Nemarra

The fire blazed higher and higher as more of the mass apartment building caught flame. Fire engines called out as brave firefighters doused the flame. Within the chaos, five young superheroes aided the rescue. Robin and Cyborg had rushed in through the front door behind a group of firefighters. They had split up to search for people that might still be trapped inside. Beastboy and Starfire were doing the same, though their journey had started from the roof. Finally, Raven used the apartment's own water line to help douse the roaring fire.

The team of heroes- both meta and regular people- were making fast work. One after another, groups of civilians were pulled from the burning building. Starfire shot out of the building with two adults. Just as she touched down with the cinder covered couple, Robin called to her and Cyborg, "The building is becoming to unstable… we can't go back in."

Panicked, the woman Starfire had rescued screamed. "But my baby!" she cried.

"Do not worry," Starfire tried to calm the mother. "Our friend, Beastboy, was right behind me with your young one." She looked up the window she hand left from as if waiting for Beastboy to suddenly aid her efforts in calming the woman. She waited and waited, but after five minutes, there was no sign of the green changeling.

"Please, stay here," Starfire told them before quickly flying to Robin's side. He was with the apartment manager trying to make sure everyone had been evacuated. "Robin, Beastboy has yet to emerge from the building," Starfire quickly announced. Worry thickly decorated her tone.

"What?" Cyborg shouted over the noise. "What do you mean grass stain hasn't come out yet?" Now Starfire had the joined attentions of the other three Titans as well as some civilians.

"He was right behind me. We could not take the stairs due to the fire making us incapable of moving through the hall. We had agreed to go out a window, and so I had zoomed out of the building believing he was to be still right behind me. Oh this is dreadful! What if he can not find a form that can fly him and the child out of the building? What if he is trapped? We must go back in to find him!"

Robin cut-in, grabbing Starfire's arm as an extra precaution to ensure she did not fly off, "Star, wait. We need to have a plan before just racing in there."

A firefighter shout rang over the street. "Everyone get back, she's coming down!" All the Titans eyes suddenly turned to the building in horror. The building moaned as the roof started the cave in. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven's familiar incantation filled the air. The crumbling walls were suddenly encased in dark energy as she fought to keep it standing. "Quick, which floor was he on?" Robin encouraged Starfire.

"I… do not know," Starfire admitted.

"Raven, how long do you think you can hold it?" Robin asked.

"Not… Long," Raven gritted through her teeth. Her posture was as strained as one trying to hold up a heavy wall. Cyborg clicked a few buttons on his arm. The screen came to life at once. "Cyborg calling Beastboy, can you hear me?" The little screen did not answer. It remained full of static. Cyborg clicked a few more buttons and the screen turned to a map with five blinking dots. "Unless he dropped his communicator, he should be on the eighth floor," Cyborg announced.

"Alright, Cyborg, you and I are going to set up a net at the base of the building. Starfire, your going to check out around the eighth floor for an opening. Only enter if you are sure it is safe for you to enter. Raven, I need you to…" When Robin turned his attention to where Raven had been, he found she was gone. "Raven?" he called out looking back and forth.

Unseen by her team mates, Raven had directed her magic to only support the four floors above the eighth giving her enough magic to teleport inside. She fell to one knee the moment her feet made contact with solid floor. She was panting with the combination of magic use and the lack of oxygen within the fire's fury. Without waiting to regain her breath, Raven forced herself to her feet. She carefully walked along the weak floors. She reached out with her empath powers searching for Beastboy.

She managed to cover most of the floor save for the last three rooms before the floors above moan. She knew she had to concentrate more on keeping the building steady until they managed to get out. So, Raven took the old fashioned way of chancing a journey through the hall. She reached the first room her powers had not checked. "Beastboy?" She shouted to the inside. The roar of fire fought to drown out her voice. There was no answer. Raven breathed deep, and this time yelled out louder than the fire. "Beastboy!" she called. A small whimper gained her attention to the room across the hall.

Raven hurriedly made for the door. In her haste, she had stepped on a particularly charred floor joist. She managed to catch herself instead of falling down into the orange and yellow heat below. As she starred down into the fire she was reminded of her father's realm. Suppressing the horrible memory, Raven fought to pull herself back up. There was a moment she feared the plank would not be able to support her, but the burnt wood proved it's strength.

This time more cautiously, Raven ventured to the second room. Even though her throat burned, she called out once more, "Beastboy? Are you in there?"

"Over here," came a chocked reply. Thanking every higher power she could think of, Raven made her way into the room. Through the kitchen and living room she found nothing. It was only when she finally reached the bathroom did they see one another. "Raven! In here!" Beastboy coughed through the debris that blocked the door. His hand waved to her through a small hole trying to gain her attention.

"Beastboy, what are you doing in there? Come on, the building is starting to collapse," Raven ordered. The force in her voice being too much that she needed to cough after.

"I can't," he answered.

"Of course you can. Just turn into something small."

"No, Raven, I can't! There's a little kid in here. She's trapped."

That complicated things a bit. Raven peaked into the hole to see the situation. She was relieved to find Beastboy and the little girl were safe. Though the room inside was full of smoke, there appeared to be no fire. "What about the window? Isn't that the one Starfire went out?"

"No, we were trying to escape through the bedroom window. Star made it out, but a beam fell in our way. Everywhere else was on fire so I ran in here looking for another window. The one in here is too small to fit the kid through, but when we went to leave the ceiling caved."

"Have you tried digging out?"

"Yeah. The roof started to collapse though."

"Don't worry about that. Just turn into something and charge through. I'll do my best to keep everything in place."

"Alright, stand back."

Raven stood back away from the door just in time for a familiar green triceratops to slam through the debris. The dinosaur quickly changed back into Beastboy. "Come on," he encouraged towards the bathroom. A small girl, maybe six or seven years old peeked out before running straight to Beastboy. Around them the apartment groaned. Raven's eyes suddenly glowed white as she forced the caving ceiling back up. Behind her a portal formed. "Beastboy, get the little girl to go through," Raven ordered. Nodding, Beastboy nudged the child to the portal. "It'll take you outside to your mom and dad," he encouraged. The frightened child did not need any more encouragement. She ran head long into the black vortex disappearing within it.

Raven sighed with relief. The last of her strength left her forcing the portal closed. As she stumbled back, Beastboy caught her. "Robin and Cyborg… their setting a net," Raven explained through breaths. The heat and smoke were starting to make her go dizzy. Beastboy nodded before lifting Raven bridal style.

Beastboy marched on to the hallway. When he got there, he found the hole that Raven had fallen through now took up half of the flooring. A loud crack gained his attention to the wall. Through the fire he could see the wall splitting. The crack ran down the floor making one thing quiet clear; the building was splitting in half. "Hang on, Raven," he said. Then, he quickly turned into a gorilla.

After ensuring he could carrying Raven safely in one arm, Beastboy jumped. He grabbed a random joist from the ceiling to direct himself to the hole in the next floor down. He manoeuvred that way for three floors until there was no more holes in the floor. Still in gorilla form, he raced to the nearest door that he hoped faced the front of the building. As luck would have it, the floors above clamoured down into the hall way just seconds after Beastboy took cover. Beastboy spared a moment to turn back human to look into the new hole the collapse had made. "Looks like we're not going back out here," he attempted to make humour in the situation. Raven was too exhausted from her magic use to bother commenting.

Beastboy quickly turned back into a gorilla. The building groaned threateningly once more as he carefully stepped through the apartment. That was when the divided building decided it had enough. The pair of Titans were soon falling through the floors as the front and back of the building ripped apart. The water lines broke open pouring out onto the flames. Combined with the firefighters' efforts outside, the two Titans found themselves falling into a basement made pool. Focusing her remaining strength to magic, Raven created a force field that slowed their descent.

The dark bubble blinked a few times, but it managed to serve it's purpose. Instead of falling stories into the cool water below, Raven and Beastboy dropped only five feet down. It was ice cold, only slightly warmed by the dispersing heat from what remained of the burned building. The combined shock and crash in the fridged depths was enough to knock them apart from one another.

Simultaneously, both Beastboy and Raven reached out an arm to the other fighting to stay together. At that moment though, the debris of the falling building had caught up to them. A large beam cut between them. In the short time that they lost sight of one another, Beastboy had turned into a minnow easily avoiding the dry wall that had targeted him. Raven- having exhausted her magic- was not as fortunate. A large floor joist clipped the back of her shoulders when she attempted to swim away from falling bricks. The heavy beam knocked her enough for her to chock out a small piece of air. Having the chance to gasp for breath before falling into the water was probably her saving grace at that moment in time. Though oxygen still remained in her lungs, Raven was being dragged down fast by the beam.

By the time a now penguin Beastboy zipped past the largest piece of wreckage, Raven was caught at the bottom of the water filled basement. Someone above was truly looking out for her, for instead of being crushed under the joist's weight, a few bricks held it off. Though relieve to see her fighting to get free, Beastboy knew time was of the essence. Still a small island penguin, he zoomed and zig-zaged through water and debris.

Raven's lungs were burning with the need for air. She pushed at the beam the best she could. She wanted nothing more than to use her magic to throw it off and shoot to the surface, but she knew the strength she bore now would be of little help. She had to do this by force. Yet with each passing second her vision blurred. Her tired limbs ached with the lack of oxygen. Suddenly, a shot on her left directed her attention to the small green blur that dove to the only space vacant between Raven, the beam, the bricks and the ground. At first the chubby little penguin body was caught in the small space unable to move forward or back. Then Beastboy suddenly became some type of fish. His fish form fight more easily placing him carefully under the middle of the beam.

In a flash, the green fish became a bull shark. The mass of the shark proved to be enough to lift the beam just high enough for Raven to wiggle herself free. Upon seeing her swimming for the surface, Beastboy was once again a fish firing out from under the beam before it had the chance to pin him.

Though Beastboy may have had gills, Raven had no means of regaining her bodies need for oxygen. Like any oxygen deprived mind, she suddenly became dizzy. She was only partly aware of Beastboy catching her. He shifted Raven to his back before turning into a dolphin. He waited a moment to be sure she would grab hold. Though more out of a subconscious need for survival, Raven still held his dorsal fin.

Beastboy took off for the surface putting as much as his concentration that he could in being sure Raven was still holding on. He cursed to himself about the falling debris as he side swam one piece only to have to dive down and around another. The pool wasn't even that deep for crying out loud! Beastboy really began to panic when Raven's hold slackened. In a mad dash, he shot for the surface once more. When a broken wall piece fell into his path once again, Beastboy shifted into a hammerhead shark and slammed though it. The wet dry wall easily snapped in half leaving the rest of the path clear of all but a remaining few objects.

In a giant rush, the two titans finally broke through the water's surface. Beastboy sighed in relief the moment he heard Raven gasp for air. Shifting back into human form, the green changeling pulled a floating door over to Raven. She gratefully accept it using it as a buoy to stay above water. Beastboy held on by the other side allowing their craft to remain balanced.

Even though it was dark -save for the few remaining flames- and loud with shouts and sirens, to the two team mates, all was calm. Raven's soft smile accompanied Beastboy's great grin as they took a moment to regain their breaths. "Thank you," Raven sighed. Her voice was quiet from the dull pain in her lungs. Still slightly chocked from carbon dioxide, Beastboy could only answer by means of a nod. Feeling that wasn't enough, he squeaked out, "I oughta be the one thanking you."

"You were in danger, what else could I do?"

"Well… Thanks."

"You're welcome. And Beastboy…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever scare me like that again."

He snickered slightly, "Just so long as you don't go and almost drown on me again."

Her smile brightened just the slightest as she nodded.

There was a moment pause before Beastboy added, "You know, if you're still out o' breath, I _do_ know CPR. Hey!" the shout coming from the fact Raven splashed him for his words. Fortunately, the shout caught the attention of a certain alien princess flying over the debris above. "Raven! Beastboy! You are alright!" Starfire cheered after flying in close enough to be sure. Before they could answer her, she shot up high enough for those on ground level to see her. "They are here!" she shouted to them. Apparently someone signalled Starfire to come back, for after a pause she flew back to the ground.

Moments later, she returned with a set of ropes in hand. "Are either of you harmed?" she asked with deep concern.

"I'm okay, Star," Beastboy reassured her.

"Just a little sore," Raven admitted to the persistent ache in her shoulders where the beam had hit her. Satisfied to find her friends were alright, Starfire hand them each a rope. "Robin has told me to instruct you to tie these around yourselves so that he and Cyborg may pull you up," she instructed.

"Thank you, Starfire," Raven said as she accepted the rope. Starfire patiently waited while her two team mates awkwardly tried tying the ropes around themselves while still managing to keep their heads above water. Beastboy eventually got fed up and simply climbed the rope as a small monkey. With a little help from Starfire, Raven was soon fastened onto the rope and being pulled out of the water filled pit. Part way up, the still monkey Beastboy decided he would rather ride on Raven's shoulders than continue to force his aching limbs to climb. Starfire carefully flew close by in case either of her friends fell.

The moment the Titans reached ground level, cheers erupted from the crowd. Robin and Cyborg rushed over to their friends helping them past the debris onto solid concrete. At once, Beastboy jumped down to the ground changing from monkey to dog and shook the water from his coat. "Beastboy!" Robin scolded trying to not get wet.

"Cut it out!" Cyborg added. Though Raven did not say anything, she did not look impressed. Starfire giggle at her united friends. Some EMS works covered Beastboy and Raven with blankets keeping the night draft off them. First chance he got, Cyborg grappled the now human Beastboy into a headlock and gave his hair a few ruffles. "Good to have you back, little buddy," he cheered.

"Dude! Not the due!" Beastboy complained as he pulled back out of Cyborg's grasp

Meanwhile, Robin was speaking with Raven and Starfire. "Nice job finding them, Star. And Raven, I'm glad you found him and managed to get out okay. But I wanted to know, since when do you go against orders?" Raven did not answer.

"Perhaps this is to do with the fact that it was Beastboy whom was in danger," Starfire inquired. By this point, Beastboy and Cyborg had joined the conversation. "Ha! I knew you had a thing for me!" Beastboy boasted. "It's the ears, isn't it?" As he said the second part he took on a pose he thought would make him look like a male model. Raven rolled her eyes. "Only in your dreams, Beastboy," she said curtly as she made for the T-car.

"Awe, hey, come on!" he complained as he followed her.

The remaining three Titans watched the pair as they walked. The jokes. The smiles. The looks. Three minds were coming to one common conclusion. "You know, we really aughta get those two together," Cyborg commented the thought aloud.

"You know what. I completely agree with you," Robin commented.

"Perhaps, Robin, you and I could invite them to a double date so that they may be more comfortable in a relationship building setting?" Starfire suggested.

Robin paled though his cheeks grew bright red. "Well, maybe a double date wouldn't be so good, Star."

"Oh… does this mean you wish for us to go out as only a pair?"

"What? Starfire, I thought we were trying to think of a way of hooking those two up. Not planning on going out."

"Do you mean you do not wish to go on a date with me?"

"No, no… that's not it Starfire…"

"Then perhaps we should see what movies are playing in the cinema so that we might go see it."

"Wait, Starfire, listen…"

Cyborg could only snicker as he observed the display. He decided to let them sort things out for themselves instead of meddling… this time. Besides, he had been playing match maker between those two for a while now. It was time to switch directions to a fresh pair. He glanced over to Beastboy and Raven in time to see Raven use her powers to give Beastboy a wedge-y that covered his forehead with his underwear. This was going to be interesting.

~End

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

_Finally! This took me a long time to write. Anyway, Dude Your Awesome8, hope this is what you wanted. Thanks for waiting so long. Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed. And remember, there are still prizes available so read, review/fav, and you too could be a winner. Either way, reviews are always welcome._

_Tchau (Goodbye)_

_~Nemarra_


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